The Kaizen principle is a Japanese philosophy that is usually applied to business or industry. The word describes the continual improvement that results in long term success. This step by step approach of the kaizen principle has a number of relevancies to fat loss, and an understanding of these can help individuals obtain a more focused approach to their fat loss efforts. The first thing to say is that weight gain is a very slow process and may take decades to reach levels that threaten health. It is only as the body fat levels approach a particular advanced level that most are aware that they must reverse the process. This relates to the fact that we see ourselves everyday in the mirror and so the gained weight is very difficult to notice being added incrementally. However, many people will know of someone they have not seen for many years and when that person is reintroduced to their lives, any weight gain is instantly noticeable due to the fact that the small incremental process has not been hidden by daily familiarity.
The kaizen principle describes the nature of making a series of smaller steps to produce more manageable but continual improvements. Often such smaller steps are easier to achieve and provide stronger motivation and focus to the individual concerned.
Small incremental gains are therefore to blame for weight gain, and often this creeps up on the individual unnoticed. This sort of weight gain will start to appear typically in the mid twenties as muscle mass and metabolic rate begins to drop with age. However, due to increasingly poor diets many are finding that this incremental weight gain is now occurring throughout the teenage years, making the task of fat loss that much harder as an adult. Further, the rate of weight gain is accelerating, again due to increasingly poor diet, and this again adds further fat loss requirements at a later stage. It would be absurd to suggest this that all of this weight could be lost in only a few months of effort, and often for those with the largest amounts of fat loss the road to health and normal body weight may take many years. For the very obese and overweight the scale of weight loss required is often daunting, and many find it hard to envisage that they will be successful in their desire to obtain normal weight.
Using the kaizen principle is therefore a useful tool. This principle allows focus on smaller sub goals, while reducing focus on the larger overall goal of weight loss. Thinking of the path to normal body weight as a series of smaller steps of smaller packets of fat loss can be a strong motivating factor. It is easier for example to achieve a fat loss of 2 kg than it is of 20 kg. Focussing attention of the initial step allows the goal to be more easily achieved and this provides a strong positive motivation for subsequent fat loss goals. Once the initial 2 kg fat loss has been achieved a next step can be chosen, with the size of the step being moderated by the progress made on the first step. If obtaining the 2 kg goal was easy, the next step could be enlarged to a 3 kg loss. If it was difficult reducing the size to a 1 kg loss may be advisable. In this way, over time a number of smaller steps can be used to obtain the 20 kg loss desired. The usefulness of this principle cannot be overstated, and it should used routinely in all health goals.
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